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Posted by Doug on August 26, 2006, 3:01 am
There's a small circuit board in there. Follow the wires. Looks like a
charge pump.
MAX233 or something - dun'no didn't spend too much time on it and the ID was
sanded off.
I DON"T suggest use on silicon devices or where a current path can be
set up. MO.
Doesn't always make good contact -which suggests that hobbiests would tend
to push harder than needed on the fragile tip. Also makes a nice shiny cold
solder joint.
Ditto on the rest tho'.
> caelum_dalnet@yahoo.com wrote:
> > Cold Heat Soldering Iron
> > $19.99 plus s&H
> Radio Shack sells these as well for the same $19.99 (no S&H).
> I went out and bought one about a year ago just to see how it works.
Here's
> my review in case anyone was curious about these things as I was.
> It's tip is made of a material that seems to be very similar to simple
> graphite. It might be graphite for all I know. It's split in two so
> there's a small gap running lengthwise down the tip.
> The device has no electronics in it The batteries are just connected to
> the tip. When you touch something conductive it completes the circuit and
> that resulting current flow causes the tip to heat up (and causes a small
> arc as it completes the circuit as well). There is an on off switch, and
> two LEDs - one to act as an illumination light which is always on when the
> switch is on, and the other to indicate when current is flowing through
the
> tip. That's all there is to it. As it says in the commercials, it does
> heat up, and cool down in milliseconds. The material the tip is made out
> of must be very heat conductive and have a very low thermal mass. There's
> no harm in touching the tip with you finger or anything else as long as
the
> material isn't a strong conductor.
> Solder doesn't stick to the tip so there's no issue with the solder
causing
> the tip to stay active. And the tip doesn't seem to need any regular
> cleaning. At most you just wipe it off with a cloth.
> The main drawback of the device for me is that it's got such low power,
you
> can't solder much of anything with it. It doesn't have enough heat for
> example to solder two 14 gage house wires twisted together. It does ok
> with two pieces of 22 gauge hook up wire but that's about its limit. So
> it's only good for small hobby and craft jobs. And I have to wonder about
> potential dangers of the voltage across the solder tip when working with
> delicate electronic devices. There's 6V across the tip before it shorts
> and starts to conduct.
> The other drawback is that the tip seems to be about as fragile as pencil
> lead. So you have to be careful and not push too hard or allow it to hit
> something hard or else it could chip or break. I don't know how long it
> would last in typical use - probably a good time as long as you were
> careful. The tip however is easy to replace - you just pull it out and
> push a new one in. The case that comes with the tool has space to hold a
> spare tip - but it doesn't come with a spare tip.
> I can't see that I would have much use for such a device in typical
> electronics or electrical work. Most electronics work requires more heat
> than the thing can put out, so even if you could use it for some of the
> work, you would always have to pull out a real soldering iron at times.
> Where it would be ideal, is for small craft projects for kids where you
> might be uneasy about allowing them to work with a conventional soldering
> iron. It's very hard to burn yourself with this thing even if you try.
> But, if you are like me, and feel you need to own one of every tool made,
> it's hard not to pick one up just for the fun of it. The price is
> reasonable for what you get.
> --
> Curt Welch
http://CurtWelch.Com/
> curt@kcwc.com
http://NewsReader.Com/
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> $19.99 plus s&H